


A Sweet Experiment

by mandykaysfic



Category: Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Aphrodisiacs, M/M, Spiced Peaches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-02
Updated: 2017-02-02
Packaged: 2018-09-21 15:35:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9555254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mandykaysfic/pseuds/mandykaysfic
Summary: Spock plans an experiment to alter certain parameters.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Spiced Peaches XLVll

Spock spent enough time in the Botany Lab assisting other crew members with various experiments that nobody commented or even noticed when he took over a small area for a project of his own. The hydroponic strawberries and chillies garnered plenty of interest when they ripened, but the quantities grown were small, and to the crew's disappointment, none of the bright red fruits made it into the hands of the cook. Thanks to Spock's scientific approach to gardening, the dark green arugula leaves were ready to be harvested at the same as the time as the rest of his crop.

Ensign Ryan sighed when she realized she'd missed her opportunity to ask Mr Spock exactly what he was hoping to achieve, other than a salad, with that particular combination of foods. Pulverized with some secret chemicals, those three things were surely a cure for Nurse Chapel's mysterious rash that refused to respond to any of Dr McCoy's patent remedies, said scuttlebutt from the Engineering department. Members of Security insisted it had to do with a different Vulcan ritual, not the one that was no longer a such secret. The betting pool had several interesting possibilities with outrageous odds and she'd hoped to scoop the pool by asking Mr Spock outright. She planned the most logical questions to ask, and chose her time carefully; he tended his plants at the same time every day, but the Lab was empty. Even Johnson, who practically slept there with his precious fungi, was absent. All that remained of Spock's crop were stalks, stems and leaves.

In Spock's quarters, a table was set for two. The cloth, crockery and candles were white, the cutlery silver, and in the center, three red flowers and a few green leaves were arranged in a clear glass vase. At the bench, Spock checked the time and continued with his preparations. He'd done his research and stocked up on ingredients purchased at the last few places they'd visited. Analysis had shown the vitamin and mineral contents to be 98.3717 percent to 99.4538 percent identical to the vegetables and fruits of similar appearance native to Earth. According to his palate, the flavors were also close matches.

The arugula leaves were the basis for the salad. Its fresh, peppery taste would combine well with the foods resembling avocado, almonds and flax seeds. After careful consideration, he added some of the spinach-like leaves he'd initially decided to omit. Pumpkin seeds and pine nuts provided texture, along with magnesium and zinc. He de-seeded the chillies he'd grown and sprinkled a judicious amount of the finely chopped, bright red circles over the op. Chilli wasn't in the original recipe, but it added color and flavor. Spock sampled a small amount and nodded approvingly.

The information provided by the computer for the dressing stressed it was the perfect combination for that particular salad, so he'd synthesized the lemon juice, garlic clove, herbs de provence, basil, cayenne pepper, and extra virgin olive oil in the quantities recommended. After tasting, he agreed.

Dessert was also essential, and according to his research, a selection of strawberries, watermelon, pineapple, honey, bananas, cherries, ginger and dark chocolate would produce the most gratifying response. The resulting soup when he combined them together was pleasing to neither the eye nor the tongue; the nutritional content was not the only thing he needed to consider. Eventually, he settled on a simple fruit platter using only the strawberries, cherries and watermelon. The red fruits looked most attractive on the white dish. A second, smaller plate held squares of chocolate and several pieces of candied ginger.

Before beginning his culinary endeavours, Spock had programmed a ten-minute warning alarm into the computer. He'd planned to be in the living area, mixing drinks by then, but the debacle with the dessert had taken more time than he'd allowed. Ten minutes, however, was sufficiently adequate to allow him to change into the robe he'd already decided to wear. One item of clothing was sufficient; it allowed the time he would spend undressing to be put to better use. There would be other occasions for the piecemeal removal of items of clothing and the stimulation such an act provided, but that wasn't on the agenda for this evening.

The door chime sounded, exactly on time. It would seem everything in Sickbay was running smoothly.

"Come," he bade. The door slid open, and Leonard McCoy entered.

"Spock." The double entendres provoked by that order had been exhausted some time ago. These days Leonard's greetings off-duty were simple and heartfelt.

"Doctor."

"Really? I thought we'd progressed past that long ago."

"It seemed appropriate, when offering you Penicillin.

"Are you trying to tell me something?"

"Negative. It is the peculiar name for this drink, as it doesn't contain any of benzylpenicillin, procaine benzylpenicillin, benzathine benzylpenicillin, or phenoxymethylpenicillin."

"I'm pleased to hear it." McCoy took the proffered glass and held it up to the light. The golden amber color glowed, while the candied ginger garnish indicated at least one of the ingredients. "Can't say I've ever had one of these before."

Spock watched impassively as McCoy tried the whiskey, lemon juice and honey-ginger syrup concoction.

"I see where it gets its name. A good cure for whatever ails you. Tastes mighty fine regardless." 

The small talk centered on the serious side of ship's business. These days, they tried to keep conversation during meals to topics other than work, so by getting it out of the way first, they were more or less successful at not letting it dominate all of the time they spent together. 

When they'd run out of new things to say about the recent mission to Beta-Hyrellan, Spock indicated they should take their seats for dinner.

McCoy raised an eyebrow at the table setting. It wasn't as if Spock never set the table; it was usually a simpler affair. 

"Go ahead and share your thoughts," said Spock. He knew his friend well enough to when tell he was holding back some spurious comment.

"No, no! Everything is fine." McCoy waved a hand at the table. "The tablecloth is fine. The plates are fine. The flowers are fine. It looks like Christmas, and I know you'd never mix up any holiday dates. Wait, that's it! I've gotten the date wrong. It's an anniversary of some sort and I've forgotten it." He mumbled to himself, and then confessed, "Sorry, Spock. You'll have to enlighten me."

"There's no celebration for the two hundred and sixty-third day of a relationship I'm aware of."

"Huh! That long? We should see about inventing one. It'd be a shame to waste all this."

Outdoing one another with increasingly outrageous celebrations, anniversaries and feast days took care of the conversation over the salad. Spock chose not to enlighten McCoy as to the real reason for his preparations; he believed the doctor would deduce his motive soon enough.

"Mm, strawberries. Cherries. Chocolate. And more ginger. Why, Spock, I do believe you've made sure we'll be celebrating tonight, irrespective of whatever holiday it is, wherever it's taking place. Avocado, chilli, pine nuts - they're all aphrodisiacs!"

Watching McCoy choose a single strawberry and eat it slowly while staring into Spock's eyes was aphrodisiac enough. He swallowed. "An added bonus, but not the exact reason."

"What, then?" 

"You are deliberately distracting me." Never had a piece of chocolate been eaten so slowly.

"I am? You're right, I am."

"You're no longer interested in the reason, I presume." Spock almost wished he'd never served dessert.

"Is it something I should know before we test whether the aphrodisiac properties are working properly?"

A trickle of watermelon juice escaped McCoy's lips. "Sweet."

"Huh? That's too succinct, even for you."

"These foods when ingested make semen taste sweeter," explained Spock.

A sudden burst of laughter had not been the expected response.

"You miscalculated," said McCoy when he could speak. "That's not going to happen tonight. The digestive and, er, manufacturing process takes more than a couple of hours to have an effect, and I don't believe one meal will make that much difference." He laughed again.

"Then we shall have fun experimenting. There are sufficient strawberries remaining to consume with breakfast."

McCoy laughed even harder when Spock opened a computer program and quickly entered what they'd eaten and the time of consumption before herding McCoy into the bedroom for the next part of the experiment.

END


End file.
